News: Tiki, Marth, Lucina, and Gaius in Second Set of Fire Emblem Cipher Sleeves

The next set of Fire Emblem Cipher sleeves have been announced for a September 10th launch date, just seven days prior to the launch of S02: Godflame of Light and Dark. The sleeves will feature "Hero to His Country, Marth" "Knower of the Future, Lucina" "Princess of the Divine Dragon Tribe, Tiki" and "Sweetest Assassin, Gaius." Tiki and Gaius were both voted for by fans during the game's prerelease livestream as the cards they would most like to see used as a sleeve. Each sleeve measures 67x92 millimeters, and 65 sleeves will come in every sealed package. Packs of sleeves will retail for 760 yen before tax, approximately $6 at the present exchange rate.

News: Second Wave of Cipher Packaging Shown on Official Site

Today the Japanese Fire Emblem Cipher portal updated with images of the upcoming starter decks S03: Birthright and S04: Conquest, as well as the second booster set B02: Soulful Flames of Light and Dark. The starter decks will provide full support for the colors white and black, representing the Hoshido and Nohr factions from Fire Emblem Fates, and will retail for 1300 yen each (approximately $10.50 at the present exchange rate). The second booster set, which launches in Japan on September 17th, will likewise include cards designed to enhance each color. Like Warblade of Heroes before it, Soulful Flames of Light and Dark will include ten cards in each booster pack, and sixteen booster packs in each sealed box of the set. MSRP for the booster packs is 350 yen each (~$2.83) and 5600 yen per box (~$45).

The Hoshido and Nohr factions supported by Soulful Flames were originally introduced as promotional cards packaged with Warblade of Heroes boxes. Cipher is handling the split version mechanic of Fire Emblem Fates by representing the protagonist of Birthright as the male incarnation of Corrin, and the protagonist of Conquest as their female incarnation. So far all known Corrin prints can also be treated as having the Hoshidan or Nohrian symbols, allowing white and black decks to be efficiently mixed together, though each of their skills still draw power boosts from their respective black and white colors.

The third booster set, which has no formal title nor announced launch date, will continue to support the factions from Fates while also introducing Tellius cards from Path of Radiance.

News: A Tribute to Iwata Satoru, Dead at Fifty-five

Today Nintendo announced the death of Iwata Satoru on July 11th 2015, from a cancerous growth in his bile duct. It was this same condition which prevented his presence at E3 last year, for which he had undergone surgery. Born on December 6th 1959 (Shōwa 34), Iwata died at the too-young age of fifty-five, making his thirteen years the shortest reign of any President of Nintendo. Since 2002 his radical vision for the future has repeatedly redefined the company's position in relation to the rest of the market, and set it above and beyond the scope of competing developers. Nintendo has lost its greatest President, and the fans have lost one of their best friends.

Iwata is someone that we cannot write about impersonally. Composing an exhaustive list of all the games he contributed to in life is likely impossible; Iwata was a constant presence working alongside Nintendo's development staff even after ascending to the position of President, and for every game he worked on there lies a story and more uncredited work behind it. Several of his contributions only became known years after the fact, and there's likely still more that will never be public knowledge. While Iwata is famous for reprogramming EarthBound from scratch midway through its development, for this editor Iwata's greatest accomplishments were in the late 90s and early 2000s. We first came to know Iwata through his work on Super Smash Bros. Melee, on which many sleepovers and afternoons were spent. Even now the arguments over whether Marth or Roy was better still come to mind. The handheld Kirby games filled many long car rides across the United States, and in each of his games a small piece of Iwata's soul touched our lives. His revolutionary direction as President fundamentally changed Nintendo into a developer for more than just gamers, achieving a level of proliferation with the Wii that the press could never have anticipated. His policies of openness between developers and fans lead to the creation of Iwata Asks, a column hosted on Nintendo's official site in which he would interview game developers about their upcoming projects. With Iwata gone, the future of the column is uncertain.

Iwata was the first President of Nintendo to cut his teeth on programming video games before ever ascending to the position, but what characterized his career most strongly was how he retained a developer's mindset even after succeeding President Yamauchi. Setting him apart from the distant Yamauchi was that while Yamauchi died having never played a video game, Iwata had hands-on experience with both playing and developing games. To prevent new titles from languishing in obscurity, he gave his seal of approval to games that would have otherwise struggled to find funding. (Of note is that several years prior to his presidency, Iwata was one of the executive producers for Doshin the Giant. Could such a bizarre game have ever existed if Iwata and Miyamoto hadn't done the executive coordination to get it funded?) His constant involvement with a huge variety of Nintendo's titles left Iwata's mark everywhere. The compression tools he created doubled the content of Pokémon Gold & Silver, and the debugging work he did over the course of three weeks on Melee was some of the most important ever done in the field. His code now lives on forever in the screens of the annual Apex and EVO tournaments.

Following his sudden departure, Iwata's place is being filled by representative directors Takeda Genyo and Miyamoto Shigeru. Our prayers are with them during this difficult time. Several insensitive comments have already been made regarding Iwata's death and this year's E3. Please be respectful of the Iwata family's grief in the days ahead, as well as that of his friends' and coworkers'.

News: Marth Decks Dominate Tournament Results, Tops Akihabara Tourney

Chrom didn't make the cut in Super Smash Bros., and he's not making it in Cipher.

Ten new tournaments took place between June 2nd and July 6th. Of the eighteen tournaments that have been reported on since the game's launch last month, twelve of them have been won by Marth decks. Accordingly, red is also the most consistent top in the game. The second most played deck of the Warblade of Heroes format is Inigo Harem, which has easily surpassed Chrom as the primary deck of choice for blue. Marth decks cumulatively account for more than two thirds of tops, while Inigo makes up 17% of the top decks. The rest is spread between rogue decks that have only topped once. An index of the most recent tournaments is provided below.

Marth Tops Cardbox, Masters Square, Card Brunch Motomiya Tournaments

Inigo Harem Tops Game Plaza and Nerima Tournaments

Multicolor Tiki Wins Kamata Tournament, Marth Tops Yellow Submarine Tourney

What should be kept in mind with these results is that more than a hundred shop tournaments took place in June, and a hundred more will have finished by the end of this week. Only about 8% of all tournaments that happen are reported, and so we are generalizing from a very small sample of data that may be skewed by the low number of reporting card shops. Provided that it is accurate, the first two weeks of tournament play should not see this kind of gulf emerge between Sword of Light and Mark of Naga decks. An ideally diverse format would be split 50-50 between the two colors.

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On July 8th, Card Kingdom Akihabara held a 16-person double elimination tournament, which became the second consecutive top for Lyndis, winner of the previous Akihabara shop tournament. Lyndis' deck underwent several major revisions between tournaments, most notably removing her cost 2 Tikis in favor of running cost 1 Nowi to accelerate her bond zone instead, as well as cutting Sumia to make room for the Tharja line. Tharja has been an unpopular choice in both pure blue and multicolor decks, requiring heavy reversal costs and restrictive handsize conditions in order to force the opponent to discard and gain attack bonuses.

With particular regard to "Mage of Dark Obsessions, Tharja," the costs and difficulty of setup can be worth the investment. If Tharja's cost 3 print was class changed from either her cost 1 or cost 2 variants, her reverse 3 skill forces the opponent to discard 3 cards, which effectively counters most forms of acceleration due to the low availability of true card advantage in the game. Without cards in hand the opponent can't place bonds, deploy units, discard for evasion, or discard for critical hits; at best they must choose two of those options to be available to them, and sacrifice the rest.

King TCG held its second shop tournament over July 2nd, and uploaded the results of the tournament to YouTube on the 4th. While the previous tournament was won by a conventional Marth deck, in this tournament finals Ogma made a surprise appearance as the champion's main character of choice.  The majority of players stick to Marth because of his ability to move an opponent's unit, controllign their field and exposing them to attacks. It's this very quality that has reinforced the use of units with Flying, as their shared support skill allows one to move units without setting them to the actioned state, allowing them to move and attack in the same turn.

By playing Ogma instead, the tournament winner gave up these qualities for a better offensive game. Basic Ogma becomes a 60 attacker as long as there are two other cost 2 or less allies in play. In his promoted state as "Steel Swordsman, Ogma" he both gains +10 attack every time a cost 2 or less ally is deployed and gives +10 attack to the deployed unit, preventing the opponent's defensive checks from blocking their attacks. Steel Swordsman can also become a range 1~2 attacker by reversing one bond, which gives him comparative levels of field control to "Lodestar, Marth" since the opponent can't move their units out of Ogma's range. This also gives him the freedom to move to the rearguard area and attack from there, where the opponent can't reach him.

The Chrom player in the finals ultimately lost the game as a result of mismanaging their bonds, being unable to play the cards they had in hand due to a combination of not having the right colors face-up at key times, and not having enough to pay the costs. They were also unable to ever take the lead in orbs due to their preoccupation with attacking allied units rather than Ogma himself, whose power skill benefited from needing to deploy replacements.

Card Kingdom (Akihabara branch) shop tournament
First place: Lyndis/リンディス
Cost 5: 4
x2 Hero to His Country, Marth
x2 Manakete Princess, Tiki
Cost 4: 10
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x3 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
x3 Mage of Dark Obsessions, Tharja
Cost 3: 7
x3 Wellspring of Youth, Nowi
x4 Pegasus Knight Paragon, Cordelia
Cost 2: 7
x3 Princess of Altea, Elice
x2 Bewitching Plegian Shaman, Tharja
x2 New Exalt, Chrom
Cost 1: 22
x1 Crown-prince of Altea, Marth (Main character)
x2 Ascetic Saint, Lena
x4 Crown-princess of Talys, Caeda
x4 Practitioner of Dark Arts, Tharja
x4 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x4 Tomboyish Manakete, Nowi
x3 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin

News: Nintendo Hosting FE0 Event at "25th Anniversary of Love and Courage"

The official Fire Emblem Cipher portal updated today with new event information for the end of July. On July 25th Nintendo will be hosting a special concert in commemoration of Fire Emblem's anniversary, "The 25th Anniversary of Love and Courage," and Cipher will have its own special gallery at the event space featuring prints of illustrations created for the game. Fans of Cipher will also be provided a space to play the game in, but only individuals aged twenty years and older will be able to attend. The anniversary will be held at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, and it will cost 4000 yen to enter.

The 25th anniversary concert is set to include a variety of merchandise, including a 2000 yen folding fan decorated with the body of the divine dragon Naga, a 12000 yen replica of Azura's pendant from Fire Emblem Fates, and a commemorative "One Hundred Poems of Heroes" (英雄百歌 Eiyuu Moka) box containing illustrations that tell the stories of the Fire Emblem cast across twenty-five years in the form of waka poetry.

Modeled after traditional poetry sets used for karuta matching games, the Hundred Poems will contain two hundred cards with each complete poem split between two cards (and thus two illustrations). The first hundred are intended to be read by a poetry reader, while the remaining hundred are used for two players to try and matching the second half of the poem to its first half before the first half can be read. The Hundred Poems box will also come with a booklet and a CD that can recite the poems in place of an actual reader. It will cost 8424 yen, approximately $70.

News: Multicolor Tiki Wins Kamata Tournament, Marth Tops Yellow Submarine Tourney

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July 4th, 2015. The Nanba branch of Hobby Base Yellow Submarine hosted an 8-person bracket Cipher tournament, as a buildup to its 16-person tournament on the 20th. Tournament winner Shibano played a Sword of Light deck, focusing on one of the more visible strategies of the Japanese Warblade of Heroes format; "Marth beatdown," quickly building up a field of low cost attackers and driving the opponent to a critical point in orbs remaining, before finishing them off with the reversal skill of "Hero to His Country, Marth." Marth's skill gives all of his allied cards +30 attack to ensure that the minimum number of attacks needed to deal the final blow will hit. Along with Inigo Harem (sometimes called "Flying Inigo") and Lissa-NoNo drawbeat, Marth beatdown is one of the first deck archetypes to be formally recognized by the Japanese play community.

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Shibano attributed his win to "Princess of the Divine Dragon Tribe, Tiki" whose support skill allows a card to be placed from the hand to the bond zone when Tiki is support checked. If her support skill activates early enough, it can allow for an abnormal disparity in the number of bonds controlled to arise, allowing for exponentially more units to be deployed each turn. The deck has an enormous advantage when going first, as that also allows for it to regularly maintain more bonds than the opponent already, and Tiki exacerbates this.

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A Sword of Light deck also topped at Grand Panda Canyon's 16-person Swiss Draw shop tournament on the same day, but this one integrated multicolored support to make use of Tiki's higher-cost forms, and the Pegasus Knight support that has been so overwhelmingly popular since the set's launch. Cordelia and Sumia together give the deck overwhelming offensive options, while leveling up Tiki from her cost 2 Mark of Naga stage to her cost 5 Sword of Light stage. Because the deck makes use of cards that cross color lines, its strategies are impossible for monocolor decks. This deck hues very close to Lyndis' deck from Card Kingdom Akihabara's shop tournament just a three days prior, with one Gordin being swapped out for another copy of Linde. It is unlikely that this is the same player; Lyndis' deck is distinguished by her playset of cost 2 Tiki's alternate artwork.

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Master's Guild also held an 8-person Swiss Draw shop tournament on the 4th, which accounts for the sole pure-Naga victory that is not an Inigo deck. While the Inigo Harem has flourished as one of the more difficult matchups of the format, Chrom has thus far languished in obscurity due to a combination of slow buildup, a lack of early or midgame options, and very little in terms of true acceleration when compared to the red and multicolor decks. Basic Chrom gains +10 power for every class changed unit in play, even during the opponent's turn, but this skill itself highlights the deck's core weakness--class changing takes too long. The majority of decks run a disproportionate number of cost 1 cards compared to their cost 2, 3, 4, and 5 cards, and getting enough bonds to pay the promotion costs of these high-level cards is exceptionally difficult because unlike Marth, Chrom has no way to do bond acceleration inside his own color. Moreover, in the time taken to set up class changed units it's easier to promote Chrom himself and lose his skill, and promoting contributes more base power than Chrom's ability will under most circumstances. For that very reason, the Chrom deck is an inversion of the Marth deck, running as many copies of promoted Chrom as possible rather than as few as possible.

"Protector of Ylisse, Chrom" still relies on class-changing, but has a more sensible once-per-turn skill rather than a weaker continuous one. When an ally class changes, that unit gets +20 attack and the number of orbs it breaks becomes 2 until the end of the turn, both making it easier to hit the opponent and helping to compensate for the later stage the deck functions at by dealing more damage at the endgame. Where the deck excels defensively is with "Red-eyed Bull, Sully" and "Blue-eyed Panther, Stahl" whose Aegis skills prevent all enemies with Bow, Tome, or Dragonstone from attacking, completely shutting down the opponent's ranged combat options. This punishes the opponent for trying to set up promoted ranged units like Gordin and Merric, and forces them to expose their main character onto the vanguard line to attack, rather than turtling in the rearguard.

Doga will choke this point!

Finally, a multicolored Tiki deck made first at Card Land Kamata's 14-person Swiss Draw tournament on July 5th. Like Chrom above, Tiki is new territory for tournament play. The Manakete build was theorized as early as magazine previews for the game, where the cost 5 "Manakete Princess, Tiki" was repeatedly billed as a strong main character candidate, but until now the deck has been held back by the heavily Falchion-centric metagame.

Both Chrom and Marth have the Falchion skills that give them +20 attack while doing battle with Dragon affinity cards, and in a format where Sword of Light is one of the most played decks this has made things very hard on Tiki. By running a "Altea's Shield, Draug" who can redirect attacks away from Tiki and onto himself, the Kamata player was able to negate the benefits of these abilities. Draug's other ability gives him +20 when attacked by anything other than Tome affinity cards, giving him concrete staying power.


This gives Manakete Princess full reign to add extra bond cards each turn, allowing the free play of high cost units for more powerful fields, and in turn giving way to more balanced deckbuilding. In contrast to Chrom and Marth, because the Manakete strategy rewards the late-game plays more proportionally to the amount of setup those plays require, it cultivates a deck better distributed among different costs rather than being skewed to either low or high cost units.





Yellow Submarine (Nanba branch) shop tournament
First place: Shibano/シバノ
Deck name: Monodark/暗黒単
Cost 5: 2
x2 Hero to His Country, Marth
Cost 4: 16
x4 Sage of Gales, Merric
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x4 Crimson Reaper, Navarre
x4 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
Cost 3: 3
x3 Steel Swordsman, Ogma
Cost 2: 8
x4 Winds of Restoration, Caeda
x4 Princess of Altea, Elice
Cost 1: 21
x1 Crown-prince of Altea, Marth (Main character)
x4 Mage of Winds, Merric
x4 Talysian Mercenary, Ogma
x4 Crimson Fencer, Navarre
x4 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin
x4 Princess of the Divine Dragon Tribe, Tiki

Grand Panda Canyon shop tournament
Cost 5: 3
x1 Hero to His Country, Marth
x2 Manakete Princess, Tiki
Cost 4: 7
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x3 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
Cost 3: 12
x4 Pegasus Knight Paragon, Cordelia
x2 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
x4 Gentle Flower of the Shepherds, Sumia
x2 Aura's Heiress, Linde
Cost 2: 9
x4 Sentimental Divine Dragon, Tiki
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
x3 Wellspring of Youth, Nowi
Cost 1: 19
x1 Crown-Prince of Altea, Marth (Main Character)
x4 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x4 Maiden of Flower Fortunes, Sumia
x2 Ascetic Saint, Lena
x4 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda
x4 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin

Master's Guild shop tournament
Cost 4: 5
x4 Protector of Ylisse, Chrom
x1 Exalted Strategist, Robin
Cost 3: 11
x1 Princess of Ylisse, Lissa
x3 Blue-eyed Panther, Stahl
x1 Stoic Swordsman, Lon'qu
x3 Red-eyed Bull, Sully
x2 Warm-hearted Guard Captain, Frederick
x1 Duke of Rosanne, Virion
Cost 2: 2
x2 Sacred Descendant, Lucina
Cost 1: 32
x2 Crown-prince of Yllise, Chrom (Main character)
x3 Sprightly Cleric, Lissa
x2 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x2 Maiden of Fortune Flowers, Sumia
x3 Gynophobic Swordsman, Lon'qu
x2 Childish Mage, Ricken
x2 Aristocratic Archer, Virion
x2 Brazen Scarlet Knight, Sully
x3 Podunk Hero, Vaike
x2 Intellectual Inquirer, Miriel
x2 Sharp-tongued Noblewoman, Maribelle
x3 Forgotten Knight, Kellam
x2 Amnesia-stricket Tactician, Robin (Female)
x2 Good-natured Azure Knight, Stahl

Card Land (Kamata branch) shop tournament
Cost 5: 4
x4 Manakete Princess, Tiki
Cost 3: 14
x3 Wellspring of Youth, Nowi
x3 Gentle Flower of the Shepherds, Sumia
x4 Altea's Shield, Draug
x3 Innocent Priestess, Maria
x1 Sweetest Assassin, Gaius
Cost 2: 13
x2 Sentimental Divine Dragon, Tiki
x3 Wyvern Rider in the Iron Mask, Gerome
x4 Fearless Mercenary, Gregor
x4 Wings of Restoration, Caeda
Cost 1: 19
x1 Princess of the Divine Dragon Tribe, Tiki (Main character)
x4 Tomboyish Manakete, Nowi
x4 Maiden of Fortune Flowers, Sumia
x3 Jet Black Ace, Gerome
x4 Protective Knight, Draug
x3 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria

News: Inigo Harem Tops Game Plaza and Nerima Tournaments

On June 28th card shop Game Plaza Genki 302 held a 16-person Swiss Draw tournament for Cipher; the tournament fell far short of capacity at only six participants, with first place going to Kisoda playing an Inigo Harem deck similar to the one played by Haro P a week earlier. The Inigo deck has been a popular choice in the formation of the early tournament scene, as it can quickly turn into a defensive wall outside the reach of standard attackers, and rack up a strong offensive with a swarm of different Pegasus Knights cards. Second place went to Matt, and third to Lihou.

One particular offensive combo has been noted in Japan for taking advantage of a Flying-affinity lineup in a way no other deck can. The CCS of "Gentle Flower of the Shepherds, Sumia" gives +10 Attack to every unit that's supported by card with the Flying affinity, and this combos with "Guardian of Rosanne, Cherche," whose Wyvern Screech skill gives all Flying units +10 Attack. With over 70% of the deck being made up of Flying units, this on average doubles the attack power of every attacker other than Inigo.

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Game Plaza followed up on the tournament with another 16-person Swiss Draw competition on July 5th, but again had attendance problems with only 5 persons attending. Kisoda placed second in this tournament and Matt in third, with first place going to Higashi playing a Sword of Light deck. This is one of the most streamlined versions of the Sword of Light build seen since its debut, focusing on promoting five core lines of units and supporting them with a lineup of 25 support cards that each either overlap with the promotion lines or can act as reliable low-cost attackers that don't interfere with the deck's overall strategy. "Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda" is the defensive axis of the deck, able to search the deck when her attakc hits for copies of Marth to use for evasion, and "Crimson Reaper, Navarre" is its offensive axis, destroying a second enemy unit every time he destroys one by battle.

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On July 3rd, the Nerima branch of Card Kingdom hosted a 16-person Swiss Draw tournament. This tournament marked the second top by Taketea, who had also won the previous week's tournament. Although he played an Inigo Harem deck like Kisoda above, as at the previous tournament, Taketea thanked his "working 3" the Pegasus Knight sisters Palla, Catria, and Est, who have quickly become his trademark in local play. The multicolor deck shares a number of characteristics with the monocolor Marth build he played in the previous week, using Minerva's Iote's Shield to protect his units with Flying, and setting up his field with the lower-cost Pegasus sisters prior to promoting.

Game Plaza Genki 302 shop tournament (6/28)
First place: Kisoda/キソダ
Cost 4: 4
x2 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
x2 Affectionate Saint, Lena
Cost 3: 20
x4 Man of Flower's Fragrance, Inigo
x4 Gentle Flower of the Shepherds, Sumia
x4 Guardian of Rosanne, Cherche
x2 Pegasus Knight Paragon, Cordelia
x2 Aura's Heiress, Linde
x4 Wings of Restoration, Caeda
Cost 1: 27
x4 Cultivator of Smiles, Inigo (Main Character)
x4 Wyvern Loving Knight, Cherche
x4 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x4 Maiden of Flower Fortunes, Sumia
x2 Eldest Pegasus Rider, Palla
x3 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria
x2 Crown-Princess of Macedon, Minerva
x2 Middle Pegasus Rider, Catria
x2 Youngest Pegasus Rider, Est

Game Plaza Genki 302 shop tournament (7/5)
First place: Higashi/ヒガシ
Cost 5: 1
x1 Hero to His Country, Marth
Cost 4: 14
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x4 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
x4 Sage of Gales, Merric
x2 Crimson Reaper, Navarre
Cost 3: 5
x3 Steel Swordsman, Ogma
x2 Wielder of a Bloody Blade, Navarre
Cost 2: 4
x4 Princess of Altea, Elicei
Cost 1: 26
x2 Crown-prince of Altea, Marth (Main character)
x4 Mage of Winds, Merric
x4 Crimson Fencer, Navarre
x4 Talysian Mercenary, Ogma
x4 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin
x4 Crown-princess of Talys, Caeda
x4 Princess of the Divine Dragon Tribe, Tiki

Card Kingdom (Nerima) shop tournament
First place: Taketea/竹てぃー
Deck name: Triangle △ Formation/トライアングル△フォーメーション
Cost 3: 22
x3 Pegasus Knight Paragon, Cordelia
x2 Eldest Pegasus Sister, Palla
x2 Middle Pegasus Sister, Catria
x2 Youngest Pegasus Sister, Est
x3 Princess, Minerva
x2 Wellspring of Youth, Nowi
x4 Gentle Flower of the Shepherds, Sumia
x4 Man of Flower's Fragrance, Inigo
Cost 2: 2
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
Cost 1: 26
x2 Cultivator of Smiles, Inigo (Main Character)
x3 Princess of Talys, Caeda
x1 Practitioner of Dark Arts, Tharja
x2 Intellectual Inquirer, Miriel
x3 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x2 Eldest Pegasus Rider, Palla
x2 Middle Pegasus Rider, Catria
x2 Youngest Pegasus Rider, Est
x3 Crown-princess of Macedon, Minerva
x4 Maiden of Flower Fortunes, Sumia
x2 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria

News: Marth Tops Cardbox, Masters Square, Card Brunch Motomiya Tournaments

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July 2nd, 2015. Cardbox Japan in Osaka held a 16-person Cipher tournament, with first place going to a multicolor Marth deck. Calling their deck "Top System," the tournament winner used one of the earliest tricks developed in Cipher theory; running "Swordsman Known as Marth, Lucina" as their main character card to take advantage of her special skill, which treats her as a Marth unit at all times. This allows Lucina to promote into the cost 4 and 5 Marths, while also making room in the deck for a greater number of targets for evasion and critical hits. A full transcription of the decklist is provided at the bottom of this article.

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On the same day, card shop Masters Square (sic) in Hachioji held a 16-person Swiss Draw tournament, with first place going to Nagare playing a Sword of Light deck deck, running the Ogma and Linde lines. Linde is presently seen as an important support engine in Japanese play because her cost 3 print "Aura's Heiress" can reinforce the hand by drawing a card once each turn that a cost 2 or less ally is deployed.

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It's also recently come to light that the first ever reported Cipher tournament was not held at Card Kingdom as was previously thought, but in fact Cardbox's June 25th shop tournament beat Card Kingdom by a day.

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Card Brunch Motomiya in Nagoya held an 8-person Swiss Draw tournament on the same day as Cardbox's and Masters Square's tournaments, with tournament winner Tomifumo making use of the rarely-played Sable Knight Camus. According to the tournament host, the finals had a dramatic conclusion: Tomifumo's opponent was able to field all of the Pegasus Knights necessary for a Triangle Formation combo, but Tomifumo countered this by playing Camus and wiping out all of them with his Gradivus ability. Tomifumo's was a complete beginner at trading card games, and their victory came as a surprise to all attending.

Cardbox shop tournament (7/2/2015)
Deck name: Top System/ウエシステム Ueshisutemu
Cost 5: 5
x1 Hero to His Country, Marth
x4 Manakete Princess, Tiki
Cost 4: 10
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x1 Protector of Ylisse, Chrom
x1 Sweetest Assassin Gaius
x4 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
Cost 3: 6
x4 Innocent Priestess, Maria
x2 Princess of Ylisse, Lissa
Cost 2: 10
x4 Fearless Mercenary, Gregor
x4 Wellspring of Youth, Nowi
x2 Bewitching Plegian Shaman, Tharja
Cost 1: 19
x1 Swordsman Known as Marth, Lucina (Main Character)
x2 Crown-prince of Altea, Marth
x2 Sharp-tongued Nobelwoman, Maribelle
x2 Sprightly Cleric, Lissa
x2 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x2 Wyvern Loving Knight, Cherche
x2 Flower Fortune Maiden, Sumia
x2 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria
x4 Aristocratic Archer, Virion

Masters Square shop tournament
First place: Nagare/ナガレ
Cost 4: 15
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x3 Steel Swordsman, Ogma
x3 Aura's Heiress, Linde
x2 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
x2 Sage of Gales, Merric
x1 Loyal Retainer, Jagen
Cost 3: 6
x2 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
x2 Affectionate Saint, Lena
x1 Wings of Restoration, Caeda
x1 Innocent Priestess, Maria
Cost 2: 2
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
Cost 1: 29
x2 Crown Prince of Altea, Marth (Main Character)
x3 Talysian Mercenary, Ogma
x2 Talysian Fighter, Cord
x3 Talysian Fighter, Bord
x1 Scarlet Knight, Cain
x1 Verdant Knight, Abel
x3 Crown Princess of Talys, Caeda
x3 Daughter of Pontifex Miloah, Linde
x3 Liberator Army Archer, Gordin
x3 Mage of Winds, Merric
x3 Ascetic Saint, Lena
x2 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria

Cardbox shop tournament (6/25)
First place: Kurita/クリタ
Cost 5: 3
x3 Hero to His Country, Marth
Cost 4: 8
x4 Crismon Reaper, Navarre
x4 Lodestar, Marth
Cost 3: 10
x4 Loyal Retainer, Jagen
x4 Affectionate Saint, Lena
x2 Aerial Battle Princess, Caeda
Cost 2: 4
x2 Myrmidon from Parts Unknown, Atehna
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
Cost 1: 25
x1 Swordsman Known as Marth, Lucina (Main character)
x4 Crimson Fencer, Navarre
x4 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin
x4 Affectionate Saint, Lena
x4 Healing Priest, Wrys
x4 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda
x4 Crown-prince of Altea, Marth

Card Brunch Motomiya shop tournament
First place: Tomifumo/とみふも
Deck name: ST Custom/ST改
Cost 5: 2
x2 Sable Knight, Camus
Cost 4: 9
x2 War-god of Talys, Ogma
x1 Sage of Gales, Merric
x2 Princess, Minerva
x4 Lodestar, Marth
Cost 3: 10
x2 Loyal Retainer, Jagen
x3 Steel Swordsman, Ogma
x1 Infamous Knight "Prowling Panther," Abel
x1 Infamous Knight "Raging Bull" Cain
x1 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
x2 Aerial Battle Princess, Caeda
Cost 1: 34
x2 Prince of Altea, Marth (Main character)
x2 Daughter of Pontifex Miloah, Linde
x2 Crimson Fencer, Navarre
x2 Talysian Fighter, Bord
x2 Talysian Fighter, Cord
x2 Talysian Mercenary, Ogma
x3 Verdant Knight, Abel
x3 Crimson Knight, Cain
x3 Mage of Winds, Merric
x3 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria
x2 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin
x2 Protective Knight, Draug
x4 Princess of Macedon, Minerva
x2 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda

News: First Images of Fire Emblem Cipher Official Guide

The first images of Tokuma Shoten's Fire Emblem Cipher Official Guide have surfaced through Amazon, giving a look at the guide's exclusive promotional card "Enigmatic Tactician, Robin (Male)." The guide will contain a full catalog of all 125 existing cards, spanning B01: Warblade of Heroes, S01: War of Darkness, S02: Awakening, and all of the promotional cards distributed prior to B02: Soulful Flames of Light and Dark. At this time only 122 cards are known to exist counting Robin, and the guide's tie-in promo appears to have a set number of P01-015PR. Hence the Official Guide will contain information on three other cards that have still not been revealed as of yet.

Enigmatic Tactician, Robin (Male)
AUTO [Reverse 2] When this unit is deployed, if the number of orbs you control is not greater than your opponent's, if you pay the cost, put the top card of your deck into your orb area.

News: Nintendo to Host Women's Club for Cipher

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Scheduled for July 23rd, 2015, Nintendo will be hosting Fire Emblem Cipher's first women's club (女子会 joshikai "women's gathering") at Dining Bar Othello in Tokyo. The meeting will have a limited capacity of 20 persons, and only women ages 20 and older may be invited. Entry will be 3000 yen per person, with entrants will receive 4 booster packs of Warblade of Heroes with their entry, and the event is expected to run from 6 PM to 8 PM JST. Preregistration will end on July 15th.

The aim of the event is to promote a safer play environment for female players; such “women’s club” events have become commonplace in Japan since 2011, having been promoted extensively for other trading card games like Cardfight!! Vanguard, and in Nintendo's own Pokémon TCG.

How the event organizers will address transsexual and/or genderfluid individuals has not been addressed. These topics are typically a taboo subject in Japan.

News: Kozaki Hints at International Release for Fire Emblem Cipher

July 2nd, 2015. At this year's Japan Expo in Paris, Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates character designer Kozaki Yuusuke held both a signing, and a panel to address questions from his fans. When asked as to if Fire Emblem Cipher would be coming to the west, Kozaki speaking through a translator hinted that this option was on the table;

Nous devons voir comment le jeu marche au Japon avant de le sortir en Europe et en Amérique.
We must see how the game does in Japan before releasing it in Europe and in America.

While normally one would expect Kozaki to issue no comment on the question, his statement suggests that Nintendo and Intelligent Systems have already been considering the viability of an international release. Kozaki has been deeply involved with Cipher from the beginning, most recently having introduced the game to the general public alongside Intelligent Systems staff in a pre-launch box opening and game demo streamed in late June. Along with his core artwork for Awakening and Fates, he also illustrates cards for Cipher. He has also been a regular at Japan Expo for several years now.

Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. The Lycian League is funded by public contributions from readers like you. 

News: Multicolor Sword of Light Deck Places First in Akihabara Shop Tourney

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July 1st, 2015. The second month of Fire Emblem Cipher shop tournaments is opening with another multicolor deck taking first place, the second after last month's Inigo harem. Piloted by Sword of Light player Lyndis, the deck capitalizes on Cordelia's Galeforce ability to execute additional attacks in the endgame, and supports its heavy bond costs with the Manakete Princess Tiki line to accelerate the bond area with additional bonds, making it easier to promote Cordelia and Caeda. The 16-person Double Elimination tournament was held at the Akihabara branch of Card Kingdom. Lyndis' complete decklist is given below.

Unlike other decks that run the cost 1 Tiki for her support check skill, Lyndis primarily relied on the cost 2 Sentimental Divine Dragon promotional card. Once per turn, Tiki's Voice of Naga ability can place a card directly from hand to the bond zone by reversing 2 existing bonds, bypassing the normal once-per-turn restriction on putting bonds into play. By using this ability it ensures that there will be at least four bonds in play at the beginning of the next deployment phase, as Tiki requires 2 bonds to play on her own. This allows her to level up into the cost 5 Manakete Princess as early as the fourth turn of the game instead of the fifth, in doing so becoming able to use Manakete Princess' skill to add her support check directly to the bond zone. Because this particular Tiki is blue and associated with the Awakening symbol, playing her with Manakete Princess is only possible through running a multicolor deck, giving the mixed option a leg up over pure Sword of Light decks that choose to run the cost 1 Tiki.

Fire Emblem Cipher's tournament scene is growing rapidly. At the time of this writing there are 626 shop tournaments scheduled for the month of July, taking place in 35 of Japan's 47 prefectures. More than a hundred tournaments have been scheduled in the last sixteen days, by over twenty card shops.

First place: Lyndis/リンディス
Cost 5: 3
x1 Hero to His Country, Marth
x2 Manakete Princess, Tiki
Cost 4: 7
x4 Lodestar, Marth
x3 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
Cost 3: 12
x4 Pegasus Knight Paragon, Cordelia
x3 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
x4 Gentle Flower of the Shepherds, Sumia
x1 Aura's Heiress, Linde
Cost 2: 9
x4 Sentimental Divine Dragon, Tiki
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
x3 Wellspring of Youth, Nowi
Cost 1: 19
x1 Crown-Prince of Altea, Marth (Main Character)
x4 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x4 Maiden of Flower Fortunes, Sumia
x2 Ascetic Saint, Lena
x4 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda
x4 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin

News: Nintendo Dream Broadcasts Unboxing Party

June 26th, 2015. To commemorate the launch of Nintendo Dream magazine's June 20th issue, the editorial staff hosted an "Emblem party" over Niconico's live streaming service. Making Fire Emblem Cipher the topic of the day and specifically refusing to address comments related to Fates, the hosts featured a box opening of B01: Warblade of Heroes, as well as the associated starter decks War of Darkness and Awakening. A recording of the stream can be viewed below.

The box opening begins at 12:00. The highlight of the opening was pulling a Super Rare "Hero to His Country, Marth" at 34:40. The broadcast was not without its problems; for several seconds starting at 43:39 the staff accidentally switched the view to an emulated game of Shadow Dragon from one of their computers, with Navarre reclassed as a Bishop. Viewership of the stream was relatively small, with the number of viewers peaking at 544.

Nintendo Dream's publisher, Tokuma Shoten, will be publishing an official guide to B01: Warblade of Heroes late next month, with endorsement and assistance from Intelligent Systems. The guide will go on sale July 24th, and come with two copies of the exclusive promotional card "Enigmatic Tactician, Robin (Male)."

Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. The Lycian League is funded by public contributions from readers like you. 

News: Fire Emblem Cipher Official Guide to Publish in July

Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. will be publishing a guide to Fire Emblem Cipher this July, licensed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Titled the Fire Emblem Cipher Official Guide, this softcover strategy guide will include full-sized prints of the original illustrations used for Cipher's cards, tactics devised by Intelligent Systems for playing the game, a compilation of the rules, and a complete catalog of all cards in B01: Warblade of Heroes, S01: War of Darkness, and S02: Awakening. Each sealed first editions of the guide will include two holographic rare prints of the promotional card "Enigmatic Tactician, Robin (Male)," which will be exclusive to this guidebook.

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Tokuma Shoten has a strong relationship with Nintendo, being the current publisher for Nintendo Dream magazine in Japan. (Pictured above) Their issues have periodically included tie-ins to the Fire Emblem games, including paper toys to commemorate the series' 25th anniversary and the launch of Awakening. Their most recent issue features Phoenix Wright and Fire Emblem Fates.

The Fire Emblem Cipher Official Guide will launch on July 24th, 2015. It will retail for 1490 JPY, approximately $12.20 at the current exchange rate.

7/4/2015 update: The official guide is also now listed on AmiAmi.

News: Multicolor Inigo Harem Deck Tops GPC Tournament, First Tournament Video

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June 27th, 2015. TCG Shop Grand Panda Canyon in Akihabara held a sixteen person Swiss tournament. The shop's staff reported the tournament to be at maximum capacity; its winner was Haro P(@DenoHaro), playing a multicolor deck built around "Cultivator of Smiles, Inigo," to take advantage of his ability that gives him power bonuses for having female units in play. Haro P commented on Twitter that he felt there were too many improvements needed for the deck. In his tournament experience, there were not many players who understood the value of Gordin nor how dangerous range 2 units could be, and this contributed to his victory. Haro P's Inigo deck relies on Inigo's cost 1 print always attacking for 50 base power when a female ally is in play, 10 more than the standard power for a cost 1 lord. This also means that on average Inigo doesn't need as powerful support checks as his opponent for his attacks to hit. His promoted form also gets +20 attack power during the opponent's turn if he destroys an enemy by battle, making him a defensive 80.

This deck's trump cards are the promoted prints of Lucina and Cordelia, the former of which can stack the top 2 cards of the deck to predetermine support checks, and the latter can attack again after successfully defeating an enemy--including the opponent's main character. Cordelia is a force to be reckoned with in tournament play, as it's infinitely easier for an attack to hit in Cipher than it in other games, and with Princess Minerva to negate the effective bonus of archers against Flying units it can be very difficult to bring Cordelia down in spite of having low base power for a cost 3. Haro P's full decklist is transcribed below.

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The Mizonokuchi branch of Card Kingdom also held a 16-man Cipher tournament today. Tournament champion Narumiya(@otyapara) played a Sword of Light deck built around "Lodestar, Marth" from the War of Darkness starter deck, and her deck shared several of the same pieces as Taketea from Card Kingdom's Nerima branch. Narumiya credited her victory to the Attack Emblem support skill, which is shared by the cost 1 prints of Abel, Cain, Ogma, Cord, and Bord. Attack Emblem grants +20 attack to the attacking unit when its support checked, and as every card that has Attack Emblem has a base support value of 10, this grants a net +30 during the attack phase. She also lamented not having room for Draug in the deck in a later tweet, wishing to build a deck with her self-described husband as the main character.

Haro P is not the only multicolor player to come out of the woodwork this week. Over the 25th the first recorded tournament finals in Cipher's history were uploaded to the web, from card shop King Trading Cards in Noda. Unlike the Panda Canyon and Nerima tournaments, King TCG used a tournament bracket throughout the entire sixteen-person competition, rather than playing Swiss rounds. The finals were a multicolor Sword of Light versus a monocolor Mark of Naga deck, and the video is presented below.

The tournament finals were best of one, with a 30 minute time limit. The Sword of Light multicolor deck took advantage of having cards from both colors with the Magic Emblem ability, which allows a player that support checks it to draw a card and drop a card. This game also demonstrated one reason why Emblem cards have become so popular in the first few days since the game's launch; the Sword of Light player was able to consistently check both Attack and Defense Emblem cards that granted a +20 bonus on either the attacking or defending turn, putting them 10 points above the opponent's power every time. No decklists have turned up for the King TCG tournament.

Grand Panda Canyon Shop Tournament
First place: Haro P/ハロP
Cost 4: 11
x4 Knower of the Future, Lucina
x4 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
x3 Princess, Minerva
Cost 3: 12
x4 Man of Flower's Fragrance, Inigo
x4 Pegasus Knight Paragon, Cordelia
x2 Wellspring of Youth, Nowi
x2 Aura's Heiress, Linde
Cost 2: 4
x4 Princess of Altea, Elice
Cost 1: 23
x4 Cultivator of Smiles, Inigo (Main Character)
x4 Young Prodigy, Cordelia
x2 Myrmidon from Parts Unknown, Athena
x2 Young Princess of Macedon, Maria
x3 Crown-Princess of Macedon, Minerva
x4 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda
x4 Swordsman Known as Marth, Lucina

Card Kingdom Mizonokuchi Shop Tournament
First place: Narumiya/なるみや
Cost 4: 4
x4 Lodestar, Marth
Cost 3: 5
x3 Steel Swordsman, Ogma
x1 Infamous Knight "Raging Bull," Cain
x1 Infamous Knight "Prowling Panther," Abel
Cost 2: 5
x3 Loose-Cannon Swordsman, Naarre
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
Cost 1: 36
x4 Crown-Prince of Altea, Marth (Main Character)
x4 Verdant Knight, Abel
x4 Scarlet Knight, Cain
x4 Talysian Mercenary, Ogma
x4 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda
x4 Talysian Fighter, Bord
x4 Talysian Fighter, Cord
x4 Crown-Princess of the Divine DragonTribe, Tiki
x4 Ascetic Saint, Lena

News: War of Darkness Tops Card Kingdom Shop Tournament

June 26th, 2015. A representative of the Nerima branch of card shop Card Kingdom tweeted the results of their weekly Fire Emblem Cipher shop tournament, congratulating tournament champion Taketea (@taketea0hyuga) for winning the 16-man tournament. Card Kingdom is one of the most notoriously competitive shops in Japan, with each of its six branches hosting regular tournaments for each of their supported Trading Card Games. In the west the shop is primarily known as the inspiration for Cardfight!! Vanguard's fictional Card Capital; the owner of the franchise was a friend of Bushiroad CEO Takaaki Kidani prior to the company's rise to prominence in the TCG market. Taketea's decklist is transcribed at the bottom of the page.

Taketea's deck uses three primary cost 1s; Navarre, Gordin, and Tiki. Navarre is invaluable in the first turns of the game because his power rises from 40 to 60 if he and the main character are the only allies on the field, all but guaranteeing that his attack will go through and take an early orb from the opponent. Gordin's range 2 lets him attack the vanguard from the rearguard without fear of reprisal. The two become all the more dangerous when promoted to their cost 4 and 3 versions. Navarre becomes capable of destroying another non-main character unit every time he destroys a card by battle, while Gordin can move the opponent's Flying units every time a cost 2 or less ally is played. Gordin's attack power is below average both prior to and after promotion, but because his permanent skill gives him +30 while attacking a Flying unit, he can effectively check against decks that try to set up Triangle Attack combos.

Tiki forms the lead in the deck's support lineup. Because Tiki's support skill can accelerate bond control by putting a card from hand to the bond area every time she's support checked, Sword of Light decks have an incentive to run her for her support alone. Moreover, she becomes a base 60 with 4+ bonds in play, which puts her on par with "Crimson Fencer, Navarre" and "Talysian Mercenary, Ogma" as a big basic unit that can make an effective attacker.

Taketea's other support cost 1s are Caeda, Wrys, and the three cost 1 Pegasus Sisters. Caeda and the Pegasus Sisters all have the same support skill of moving a unit other than the attacking unit when checked, which lets a unit that has already attacked move to the rearguard to protect it from vanguard attacks. Caeda also promotes into a cost 4 that can search out cost 2 and lower tech cards like Elice and Ogma, and units with Flying as a whole play into the deck's cost 4 Minerva, who powers up based on the number of Flying units in play.

Wrys is valuable in most Sword of Light decks because his support preemptively prevents critical hits from being used, which can prevent a key unit from being taken out of play. Defensively he can also protect vulnerable allies with his action skill.

The Pegasus Knight sisters are one of the most subtly important aspects of the deck. The object of running so many units with Flying is to get out Princess Minerva, whose Iote's Shield ability forces all enemy archers to lose "Clear the Skies," the skill that gives them a permanent +30 bonus versus Flying units, mimicking its in-game effect of nullifying effective bonuses. Each of the Pegasus Sisters can action herself and reverse 2 bonds to search for one of the other Pegasus Sisters and play them, creating one of the cheapest swarming tactics to come out of Warblade of Heroes. Unlike other players that try to use the cost 3 versions of the Pegasus cards to initiate a Triangle Attack with 100 base power, Taketea instead runs just the cost 1 Pegasi with Minerva, to setup a field that will make Minerva continually have 80 base power.

This works like a slightly weaker but less costly and always-active Triangle Attack, that also doesn't give up any allies for the turn. Since each Pegasus can search for each other Pegasus, it's fully viable to at the late stage of a game play one Sister, search for another one, and then search for the third one with that one's skill, then play a Minerva from hand to nullify Clear the Skies and attack for 80. These are search skills, so there's also no need to run all three sisters in high quantities when drawing any one of them can be as good as drawing all of them, and they conveniently circumvent bond costs by playing one another straight from the deck--with only two bonds in play, one can play three Pegasus Sisters, two from hand and one from deck.

Finally, Taketea's main character line is Marth, but while many were theorizing around maximizing main character lines to increase opportunities to perform critical hits and evasion, Taketea instead shaved off the fourth copies of his cost 4 and 5 Marths to make room for ally units. "Lodestar, Marth" can come out as early as the third turn via promotion cost, and once per turn can move a rearguard enemy to the front when an ally is played, which synergizes with the Pegasus Sisters' ability to search one another, as well as with Caeda's search skill. "Hero to His Country, Marth" is the defensive end goal of the deck, as 70 base power is the highest unmodified original power allowed on any card. By reversing three bonds and discarding any Marth, he gives +30 to all allies until the end of the opponent's next turn, ensuring that even if the opponent survives the current turn, they won't be able to destroy anything during their own.

By saturating his deck with strong unpromoted units that synergize towards a few key plays with his higher costed ones, Taketea built a deck that could simultaneously play a game of overwhelming force with field swarming while also seizing control of the endgame. The deck notably uses less than 20 promoted units, which is shaping up to be typical of the Japanese metagame at this time. One feature of Cipher that's been observed repeatedly is an in-game bias against higher costed cards, as a direct result of lower costed ones being cheaper and more easily played.

First place: Taketea/竹てぃ (Pseudonym)
Deck name: The Deck I Thought Strongest/ぼくのかんがえたさいきょうのデッキ
Cost 5: 3
x3 Hero to His Country, Marth
Cost 4: 12
x3 Crimson Reaper, Navarre
x3 Angelic Advocate of Affection, Caeda
x3 Lodestar, Marth
x3 Princess Minerva
Cost 3: 2
x2 Archanean League Bowman, Gordin
Cost 2: 4
x2 Princess of Altea, Elice
x2 Strong-armed Gladiator, Ogma
Cost 1: 29
x4 Crown-Princess of the Divine Dragon Tribe, Tiki
x2 Pegasus-riding Little Sister Knight, Est
x2 Pegasus-riding Lady Knight, Catria
x2 Pegasus-riding Big Sister, Palla
x4 Crimson Fencer, Navarre
x2 Talysian Mercenary, Ogma
x4 Healing Priest, Wrys
x4 Liberation Army Archer, Gordin
x4 Crown-Princess of Talys, Caeda
x1 Crown-Prince of Altea, Marth (Main Character)

News: Booster Set 01: Warblade of Heroes, Starter Decks Launch

June 25th, 2015. Today is the Japanese launch date for B01: Warblade of Heroes (英雄たちの戦刃 Eiyuutachi no Senjin) the first booster set in Fire Emblem Cipher. The set is accompanied by starter decks S01: War of Darkness (暗黒戦争篇 Ankoku Sensou Hen) and S02: Awakening (覚醒篇 Kakusei Hen.) The War of Darkness deck contains only units from its eponymous group, comprising characters from Marth's continent of Archanea, while Awakening likewise contains only characters from Chrom's Ylisse. Warblade of Heroes is split evenly between support for both groups, which are color-coded as red for War and blue for Awakening. The set comprises 100 cards with 14 alternate prints; 48 Normal, 24 High Normal, 16 Rare, and 12 Super Rare cards. The fourteen alternate prints are six SR+ and eight R+ rarity cards with gold foiling, and the six Super Rare+ cards are signed by their respective character's voice actors. These will be signed by Midorikawa Hikaru (Marth), Tange Sakura (Caeda), Koyasu Takehito (Navarre), Kobayashi Yu (Lucina), Sawashiro Miyuki (Avatar/Morgan), and Asumi Kana (Lissa.) Each sealed box also contains a download code to unlock Minerva in Fire Emblem Fates.

Each box contains sixteen booster packs, with ten cards in each. One card in each pack is guaranteed to be a High Normal or higher. Exact distributions are unknown, but current information suggests that one is guaranteed four Super Rares in every box. Japanese auction prices currently put the base price for each SR at 1000 yen per card. The manufacturers' recommended price for one box is 5600 yen, or $45 at the current exchange rate. Certain retailers like AmiAmi will sell boxes for the currency equivalent of $40 or less.

The official Cipher Twitter account tweeted in commemoration of the launch.

“Finally release day for Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher) is upon us. Now the tides of victory within the World of Cipher are in your hands.” (Translation credit)

The Serenes Forest translation community is hard at work creating a functional wiki for the set, but in the meantime readers can turn to a text-only compendium of card translations created by Aubergine of the same community.

6/25 Update: Box openings have shown that every box contains 4 Super Rares and 12 Rares.

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Each sealed distributor carton contains sixteen boxes.

The set also launched alongside the first wave of Cipher's sleeve collection, which comprises four different character sleeves; Lodestar, Marth, Protector of the Halidom, Chrom, Bewitching Shaman from Plegia, Tharja, and the 25th anniversary dot character sleeves. Each sleeve measures 67x92 millimeters, and each pack of sleeves contains 65 sleeves. The 25th anniversary sleeves are decorated with the map sprites of the lords from the current thirteen Fire Emblem games, with Fire Emblem 7: Blazing Blade represented three times over by Hector, Eliwood and Lyn.

Warblade of Heroes will be followed up on by the second booster set on September 17th, B02: Soulful Flames of Light and Dark (光と闇の神焔 Hikari to Yami no Shinen.) B02 will include characters from Fire Emblem Fates, and will be accompanied by starter decks S03: White Night (白夜篇 Byakuya Hen) and S04: Dark Night (暗夜篇 Anya Hen.) S03 corresponds to Birthright and S04 to Conquest. MSRP for both starter decks is 1300 yen, approximately $10.50 at the current exchange rate, and 350 yen per pack or $2.99. Each sealed box of B01: Warblade of Heroes is packaged with one of two promotional prints of male or female Corrin, whose standard prints will be in B02. The white and black theme of B02 corresponds to the split versions of Fates, white the Hoshido path being represented by white and the Nohr path by black.

Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. The Lycian League is funded by public contributions from readers like you.